On This Day In Judy Garland’s Life And Career – June 9

“I have been happier during these past few years than at any time during all of my career.” – Judy Garland, 1956

June 9, 1935: Here is an article from the Nevada State Journal (out of Reno), which notes the Lodge’s upcoming opening of their 1935 season. It lists the various acts, including “the three Garland sisters, who have been appearing in M-G-M pictures…” The sister’s run at the lodge was quite successful. Judy’s sister Suzanne met musician Lee Kahn whom she would soon marry, breaking up the sister act.

This article is interesting in that the date of the filming of La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (the MGM short in which the sisters appeared and the article references) was allegedly August 12th, which is a full two months later. This means that either the sisters were already signed for the short but filming was delayed yet had it on their resume, or the short was filmed earlier than that August date.

June 9, 1943: Judy’s last day of work on MGM’s production of the Gershwin musical Girl Crazy consisted of a pre-recording/scoring session. Judy hummed, while musical director Roger Edens whistled (standing in for Judy’s co-star Mickey Rooney). The humming and whistling were a part of the underscoring of the “Walking in the Garden” scene in the finished film.

The final cost for Girl Crazy was $1,410,850.85 ($322,935.30 over budget); the gross was $3,771,000 making it the second most popular Mickey/Judy musical (Babes on Broadway grossed $3,859,000). The film was released on November 26, 1943, following a Judy 17, 1943 preview at the Academy Theater in Inglewood, California.

Girl Crazy was the last of the Mickey/Judy “Let’s put on a show!” musicals and arguably the best. Judy had clearly outgrown the role of a lovestruck sidekick to Rooney. The film is the only one in which Mickey’s character chases Judy’s character rather than the other way around. The duo appeared on screen for the last time when Judy guest starred in Rooney’s Words and Music in 1948.

June 9, 1949: Here is a nice review of the MGM soundtrack album for their upcoming release, In The Good Old Summertime (released in August 1949). The album was unique a the time in that it was only two records (four songs) whereas the standard album of the time was four records (eight songs). The four songs included in the album are: “Put Your Arms Around Me Honey”, “Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland”, “Play That Barbershop Chord”, and “I Don’t Care.”

“Last Night When We Were Young” first appeared on the 1951 compilation “Judy Garland Sings” (without any explanation that it was an outtake record) and “Merry Christmas” first appeared on 1952’s compilation “Merry Christmas.” All of the songs would not appear together as a “complete” soundtrack until it was included as part of the series of reissued soundtracks from MGM Records titled “Those Glorious MGM Musicals” in 1974.

June 9, 1950: Judy was in rehearsals for Royal Wedding. Time called: 10:30 a.m.; arrived: 1:45 p.m. Dismissed: 4 p.m. The company celebrated Judy’s 28th birthday a day early, and these photos were taken by a studio photographer of Judy with her makeup guru Dottie Ponedel, husband Vincente Minnelli, Gene Kelly, producer Arthur Freed and one of the contract dancers.

June 9, 1960: The second of three recording sessions at Capitol Records in Hollywood during which Judy recorded the following songs for the “Judy – That’s Entertainment!” album: “If I Love Again”; “Who Cares?”; “Puttin’ On The Ritz”; “Just You, Just Me’; and “Down With Love.”

June 9, 1962: This notice was sent out by the UPI (United Press International) London Bureau featuring a photo taken the previous day of the celebration of Judy’s birthday on the set of I Could Go On Singing (at that point it was still called The Lonely Stage.)

Scan and photo provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!

June 9, 1984: Another ad for the Danish premiere of the restored version of A Star Is Born.